Amusement device.



110. 740,685. PATENTEDOCT. '6, 1903; r

c. N-EEDH'AM. Y AMUSEMENT DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28, 1903.

K0 MODEL.

UNrrnD STATES Patented October e, 1903.

PATENT @FFECE.

. CHARLES A. NEEDHAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE G. INEEDHAllI, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

EiPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 740,685, dated October 6, 1903. Application filed February 28 1903;. Serial No. 145,493. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES A. NEEDHAM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Amusement Devices,

of which the following is a specification;

My invention relatesto an improvement in amusement devices, and has for its object to provide an amusement device comprising a suitable support upon which a car is fitted to travel back and forth, together with means for automatically reversing a platform carried by the car when the car reaches the limits of its movements, so that the person or figure upon the platform is caused to face the direction in which the car travels.

A further object is to provide an amusement device of the above character in which the support for the car is tilted by means of a motor to incline it in one direction or the other for causing the car to automatically travel back and forth along the support.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in whichr Figure 1 represents the amusement device in side elevation, the support being shown in full lines tilted in one position with the car a short distance away from its raised end and in dotted lines tilted in another position with the car a short distance from its upper end. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the car, its platform, and a part of its support in side elevation. Fig.3 is an end view of the same, and Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the car and a portion of its support with the platform removed to more clearly show the parts beneath the same.

The car is denoted by 1, and it is provided in the present instance with .two pairs of traction-wheels 2 3, fitted to travel'along and be guided upon a support 4. A short vertical shaft 5 is mounted at its lower end to rotate on the car 1, and the said shaft is preferably provided with an enlarged portion or drum 6. To steady the shaft in its rotary movements, I provide a bracket 7, uprising from the body of the car 1, which bracket forms a bearing for the upper end of the said 6 of the shaft 5. passes around the drum 6 and is secured at shaft. A platform 8, of any suitable size, is fixed to the top of the shaft 5, so as to rotate therewith. This platform 8 maybe provided with any suitable means for receiving a person thereupon or a dummy figure, if so (16- the platform to face in the direction in which the car is going is constructed, arranged, and

operated as follows A longitudinally-sliding bar 11 is guided in suitable brackets 12 and 13, uprising from the body of the car 1 for holding the bar 11 in proximity to the drum A flexible connection 14 its opposite ends to the bar 11, as shown at 15 and 16, to the front and rear of the said drum.

When the platform is in one position, for causing the person or figure thereuponto face in one direction the bar 11 is extended to the limit of its movement in, one direction, and

when the bar is forced rearwardly to the-limit The bar 11 is limited in its sliding movem'ents by means of pins 26 27, which engage the brackets 12 and 13.

To prod uce an automatic backward-and;-forward movement of the car and also an automatic reversal of the platform on the car, the support is pivoted intermediate its ends, as shown at 17, to an upright 18, projecting from a suitable base 19. A motor 20, of any desired construction, has a crank-shaft connection 21 22 with the support 4, so that as the motor-shaft 23 is rotated the support 4 will be alternately tilted in opposite directions. This tilting of the support 4: will cause the car 1 to travel back and forth along the support.

The ends of the support are provided with suitable stops 24 25, arranged to alternately engage the opposite ends'of the sliding bar 11 for reversing the platform as the car reaches the one or the other end of the support. These stops 24 25 also serve to prevent the car from running off the ends of the support.

It is evident that this device may be so arranged as to give a greater or lesser inclination to the tilting support, and it is also evident that other changes might be made in the construction, form, and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence I do not Wish to limit myself strictly to the structure herein shown and described; but

What I claim is 1. An amusement device comprising a support, a car fitted to travel back and forth along the support, a platform carried by the car, and means for rotating the platform when the car reaches a predetermined point.

2. An amusement device comprising a support, acar fitted to travel back and forth along the support, a platform carried by the car and means for limiting the reciprocatory movements of the car and for reversing the platform when the car reaches the limits of its movements.

3. An amusement device comprising a sup port, means for rocking the same, a car fitted to travel back and forth along the support, a

.platform carried by the car and means for limiting the reciprocatory movements of the car and reversing the platform when the car reaches the limits of its movements.

4. 'An amusement device comprising a support, means for rocking it, a car fitted to travel back and forth along the support, a platform carried by the car, a reversing device for the platform carried by the car and stops carried by the support for limiting the movement of the car and for operating the platform-reversing device.

5. An amusement device comprising a car, a platform carried by the car and a reversing device for the platform carried by the car.

6. An amusement'device comprising a car, a platform, a vertical shaft for the platform carried by the car and a reversing device for the platform comprising a longitudinally-sliding bar and a flexible connection between the bar and shaft.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 19th day of February, 1903.

CHARLES A. NEE DHAM.

WVitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, HENRY THIERNE. 

